City of Midland releases numbers for annual warrant roundup

Published 10:34 am, Monday, March 25, 2013

A Midland Police Department squad car is seen in this undated file photo.

A Midland Police Department squad car is seen in this undated file photo.

City of Midland releases numbers for annual warrant roundup

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The city of Midland municipal court made 60 arrests during this year’s warrant roundup, according to the city’s public information officer.

A total of 2,266 warrants -- with a value of $825,946.95 in fines -- were cleared through the city of Midland Municipal Court due to the event.

The roundup, which ran March 2-9, had more than 250 Texas agencies participating in an effort to target defendants with outstanding warrants for traffic, parking city ordinance, or state law violations.

Court officials mailed out 5,200 letters about the roundup in early February to remind those who may have arrest warrants pending. The reminders urged those individuals to contact the appropriate jurisdiction to close their cases voluntarily and avoid arrest during the roundup.

Defendants who didn’t pay off their warrants prior to the roundup were arrested as law enforcement officials found them.

Meanwhile, officials at Midland County Warrant Services and Collections office continue to clear warrant. In fact, The office’s chief, John N. Sikes, did not provide numbers specific to the roundup, but he said his office has cleared 82 warrants and received $170,579.46 for February. Ten cases resulted in arrests, he said.

He said his workers work out payment plans for defendants, but the responsibility of compliance falls on them.

He said his officers don’t want to crowd up the jails, which is why they try to go to extensive measures to get people paying off “their debts to society.”

“We want to get the money and not put someone behind bars.” Sikes said. “We make sure everything is good before we roll on somebody.”

Some people do not care about their tickets or fines and blow them off, which becomes a larger issue in the future, he said.